What are Bitcoin treasuries and how do they work?

A corporate Bitcoin treasury is a balance sheet allocation where a public or private company holds Bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset alongside—or instead of—cash, bonds, or gold, treating Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million coins as a hedge against monetary dilution and currency devaluation. Companies that adopt this strategy acquire BTC through capital markets instruments such as convertible bonds, preferred stock issuances, and at-the-market equity offerings, then report holdings under fair value accounting rules established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2023-08.

The practice has grown from a single company's experiment in 2020 into a structured corporate finance discipline. CoinGecko's Bitcoin Treasury tracker reports 188 entities—public companies and governments combined—holding a total of 1,893,116 BTC worth approximately $139 billion as of June 2026, representing 9.01% of Bitcoin's total supply.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice, not a solicitation, and not for UK audiences. Bitcoin and corporate treasury strategies involving Bitcoin are risky and not suitable for all users.

Why companies hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets

The core argument for a Bitcoin treasury is that idle corporate cash loses purchasing power over time. Inflation erodes the value of dollars sitting in money market accounts or short-duration bonds. Bitcoin's fixed supply cap of 21 million coins—enforced by the protocol itself, not by a central bank—offers a fundamentally different property: no entity can increase its supply to meet fiscal or monetary policy goals.

Companies that adopt the strategy are making a bet that this scarcity will preserve or increase purchasing power over long time horizons. The tradeoff is volatility. Bitcoin's price can swing 20–30% in a single quarter, which creates earnings volatility under fair value accounting and introduces risks that traditional treasury assets don't carry.

The practice gained visibility in August 2020 when Strategy (then MicroStrategy) converted a portion of its cash reserves into BTC. Since then, dozens of public companies across the US, Japan, Canada, and the UK have adopted variations of the approach. Tesla was among the early high-profile adopters, purchasing $1.5 billion in BTC in early 2021, though it later sold a significant portion of its holdings. Dedicated Bitcoin Treasury Companies have become major holders, alongside diversified companies that also hold substantial BTC reserves.

How companies fund Bitcoin purchases

Corporate Bitcoin acquisitions rarely come from operating cash flow. The dominant funding mechanisms include:

Convertible bonds. Strategy pioneered this approach, issuing debt that converts to equity at predetermined prices. Bondholders may accept lower yields in exchange for upside exposure to the company's stock, which can indirectly track Bitcoin's price; this can let the company acquire BTC without spending cash reserves or diluting shareholders immediately if the instrument is convertible, while ATM equity offerings are a separate funding mechanism. 

At-the-market (ATM) equity offerings. Companies sell shares directly into the open market in small tranches, raising capital incrementally to avoid large price impacts. The flexibility of ATM programs allows companies to accelerate or pause issuance based on market conditions. Strategy uses its ATM program to fund purchases on a near-weekly basis, disclosing each tranche in SEC 8-K filings.

Preferred stock issuances. Strategy's STRC preferred stock carries a variable dividend rate and is designed to trade near its $100 stated amount. This instrument creates a fixed income obligation backed by a volatile underlying asset—a structural tension that becomes visible when Bitcoin's price drops, as the issuer's risk rises. Zero-coupon bonds.

Zero-interest bonds. Japan's Metaplanet has issued bonds with no coupon to institutional buyers, a variation where the bondholder's return comes entirely from the company's equity appreciation rather than interest payments.

Each mechanism has a different impact on the company's capital structure. Convertible bonds add debt but defer dilution. ATM offerings dilute immediately but add no debt. Preferred stock creates ongoing dividend obligations. Zero-interest bonds add debt with no servicing cost but require eventual repayment. The mix a company chooses determines how it performs under different Bitcoin price scenarios.

The accounting rules that made it practical

A significant catalyst for corporate Bitcoin adoption was FASB's ASU 2023-08, which took effect for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. Under the previous accounting regime, companies had to treat Bitcoin as an indefinite-lived intangible asset, recording impairments when the price dropped but unable to mark holdings back up when the price recovered. This asymmetry penalized balance sheets and discouraged CFOs from holding Bitcoin.

ASU 2023-08 replaced that model with fair value measurement. Companies now mark Bitcoin holdings to market each reporting period, with changes in value—both gains and losses—flowing directly through net income. The update also introduced enhanced disclosure requirements: companies must report the name, cost basis, fair value, and number of units held for each significant crypto asset.

The practical effect was to remove one of the largest structural objections corporate treasurers had raised. Fair value accounting makes Bitcoin holdings transparent and comparable across companies, which in turn makes it easier for analysts to model and for boards to approve.

The largest corporate Bitcoin holders

The following examples illustrate the range of approaches companies have taken. Holdings figures change frequently—for the most current data, see CoinGecko's Bitcoin Treasury tracker.

Strategy (MSTR) is the dominant corporate holder by a wide margin. As of May 31, 2026, the company held 843,706 BTC with an aggregate purchase price of $63.87 billion and an average acquisition cost of $75,699 per coin, according to Strategy's 8-K filed with the SEC. Strategy funds purchases almost entirely through capital markets instruments, which means its common stock functions as a leveraged proxy for Bitcoin—amplifying both gains and losses beyond the underlying asset's price movement.

Twenty One Capital (XXI), majority-owned by Tether International (the issuer behind the USDT stablecoin), disclosed approximately 43,500 BTC at the close of its business combination with Cantor Equity Partners in December 2025, according to its BusinessWire press release and subsequent 10-K annual report filed with the SEC.

Metaplanet (TSE: 3350) is Japan's largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Total holdings reached 40,177 BTC as of Q1 2026, with a total cost of approximately $3.59 billion per Metaplanet's own disclosure filing as tracked by CoinGecko. Metaplanet funds purchases through equity raises, zero-interest bonds, and options-trading income against its existing holdings. Its stated target is 210,000 BTC—roughly 1% of Bitcoin's total supply—by the end of 2027.

MARA Holdings (MARA), one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners, held approximately 35,303 BTC as of June 2026 per CoinGecko. MARA's treasury strategy illustrates the risks of holding BTC alongside debt obligations: in March 2026, the company sold 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion to fund a convertible note repurchase, according to MARA's press release—a reminder that corporate "hold forever" commitments are ultimately subject to balance sheet constraints.

Risks of the corporate Bitcoin treasury model

The Strategy playbook has generated significant attention, but it carries risks that intensify as more companies replicate it.

Leverage amplification. Companies that issue debt or preferred stock to buy Bitcoin create fixed obligations against a volatile asset. Servicing costs on outstanding debt and preferred dividends persist regardless of where Bitcoin trades. When the price of BTC drops below a company's average acquisition cost, the entire reserve position moves into unrealized loss territory while fixed obligations remain unchanged.

Concentration risk. A single-asset treasury eliminates the diversification that traditional corporate reserves provide. Unlike a portfolio of bonds, cash, and short-duration instruments, a Bitcoin-only treasury has no internal hedging—every dollar of reserve value moves in the same direction simultaneously.

Dilution. Repeated equity issuances to fund purchases dilute existing shareholders. The "BTC Yield" metric—which tracks the period-over-period change in Bitcoin held per diluted share—attempts to capture whether accumulation outpaces dilution, but the metric is self-defined and not standardized across companies, making cross-company comparisons unreliable.

Liquidity mismatch. Bitcoin is liquid relative to most alternative assets, but corporate positions in the tens of thousands of BTC cannot be unwound quickly without moving the market. This creates a structural asymmetry: companies can buy gradually but could face forced selling under duress, precisely when liquidity conditions are weakest.

What this means for Bitcoin's supply dynamics

Corporate treasuries, combined with spot Bitcoin ETFs, are concentrating an increasing share of Bitcoin's fixed supply in entities with long holding horizons. When institutional demand exceeds new mining supply, the available float for trading shrinks.

This doesn't guarantee price appreciation. Corporate sellers can return supply to the market rapidly when they need to sell, as some public-company holders have demonstrated.  But it does change the market's structure: a growing share of Bitcoin sits in treasuries where the stated intent is to hold indefinitely, which could contribute to thinner order books and sharper price movements in both directions.

For individual holders, the shift introduces a new variable. Corporate treasury announcements, earnings reports, and debt servicing schedules now move Bitcoin's price alongside traditional supply and demand signals. MetaMask provides a self-custodial option for buying and holding BTC directly—a fundamentally different exposure model than owning shares of a Bitcoin treasury company.

Holding BTC directly vs holding a Bitcoin treasury stock

Buying shares of a Bitcoin treasury company is not the same as holding Bitcoin in a self-custodial wallet. Stock ownership layers corporate credit risk, management discretion, regulatory jurisdiction, and capital structure complexity on top of Bitcoin's underlying price movements. A self-custodial wallet holding BTC exposes the holder to Bitcoin's price and network risk—nothing more.

A holder who owns BTC through MetaMask's Bitcoin wallet controls their Private Key and can transfer, spend, or hold independently of any corporate entity's decisions. A shareholder in a Bitcoin treasury company cannot prevent the company from issuing more shares, taking on debt, or selling BTC to meet obligations.

Both approaches carry risk. Direct BTC ownership requires secure key management and carries no recourse if access is lost. Treasury stock ownership outsources custody but introduces counterparty and structural risks that don't exist with direct holding. The right approach depends on individual circumstances, technical comfort with self-custody, and tolerance for the additional variables that corporate structures introduce.

Key metrics for evaluating Bitcoin treasury companies

Several metrics have emerged for assessing corporate Bitcoin holders, though none are standardized:

No regulatory body or accounting standards organization has endorsed or standardized any of these metrics. Investors comparing Bitcoin treasury companies should verify how each company defines and calculates its reported figures.

Holdings figures in this article are illustrative and reflect the dates noted. Corporate Bitcoin holdings and market conditions change frequently, so current data should be checked in a live Bitcoin treasury tracker.This article does not constitute financial advice. For an overview of how Bitcoin works, see MetaMask's guide to Bitcoin.